Reign of the Undead
by TiredOfBeingNice
Summary: It's been a year since the horrific murders in Whitechapel, and the gang has seemingly moved on. But when an unknown killer returns, the gang has no choice but to reunite to find out who the serial killer is and stop them before it's too late. However, the killer is no longer hunting down the innocent with a silver axe: they're hunting down the gang. Rated T/M for swearing and gore
1. Five Victims, Five Heroes

**A/N- Wassup? It be TOBN here with a brand new Halloween tale to spin for you all!**

 **So it is October 3rd, which means we are four weeks away from Halloween; the most spookiest time of the year! This year, I plan on going as a Sim, which isn't that scary, but is hilarious to imagine, and is the most cheapest :P**

 **What's not cheap is the price of murder, however, (what a smooth way to introduce the story :P) which means the gang will be paying some hefty prices to save Whitechapel once again from an unknown serial killer. Who done it? What horrors are there to unfold? Grab onto your friend and stay away from axes, because I present to you the final book in my Halloween Trilogy :)**

 **So without further ado, let me twist this tale for you! (What a rhyme. :P)**

 **Drop a review as always, and remember; don't read at night (but you may do so if you want to :P).**

 **ENJOY!**

* * *

Reign of the Undead: Chapter 1: Five Victims, Five Heroes

* * *

Ethan sucked in a breath of warm, autumn air. He looked down at his coffee, which was spilling a bit on the edges of his cap, and sadly smiled; fall was his favourite season, no doubt about it, but nowadays, it just seemed like a season of repressed memories.

It has been a year since the events of Audrey and the deadly specter, and needless to say it tore the gang apart. After Audrey died and the day after Halloween, everyone wordlessly went their separate ways. It's not like they wanted to, but it was less of a choice; they all had their own lives to return to, some in Whitechapel, and some outside it.

Despite Ethan staying in Whitechapel with Rory and Benny close by, he hasn't talked to either of them. He was incredibly guilty, but he just couldn't approach him. Not after all that has happened.

He wondered how Sarah and Erica was. Erica left a few days after the incident, but Sarah stayed a few weeks before going back. They somewhat bonded over the few weeks, and Ethan pondered if she was still thinking about him too.

Work was slow. Owning a small company was tough, but days like this were less hectic and slower until the end of the day.

So now he was walking into a coffee house, ready to relax after a long day, but when his eyes gazed up on the TV screen, he found himself wondering if relaxation was even a term in his life.

" _Breaking news,"_ the reporter said. " _Four bodies of some local civilians were found and scattered throughout Whitechapel, all found with a knife in their chest."_

Ethan leaned forward, seeming to be the only person who was somewhat intrigued with what was showing on the news. He sipped his coffee rather anxiously.

" _The citizen of Whitechapel aren't unfamiliar with these kinds of murders, as tragic as it is, but this case seems to have a peculiar twist to it; not even a year after the multiple murders of last year's 'College Halloween Party Disaster' - seemingly committed by Audrey Teather, who has disappeared after the events - more strange murders have been committed. Each victim not only had a knife in their chest, but had names carved onto their forwards. The names go as followed -"_

Ethan sucked in a sharp breath at the next words.

" _Ethan, Sarah, Rory, and Erica."_

* * *

Ethan applied for a day off work, and asked his friends to reunite once more at his house, despite the last-minute arrangements. It was easier getting Erica, Sarah, and Rory to come, but getting Benny to tag along was slightly harder, despite him being in the same town as him.

Eventually, after explaining the situation to all his friends amongst the smell of cookies on his coffee table, they all came around and agreed to team up one more time.

Of course, the journey there was a difficult one.

"Nope," Benny said sharply. "I'm not doing anything."

Ethan sighed; he had anticipated his reaction.

"Come on, Benny. You know we can't do this without you," Ethan pleaded. "I know you don't like it, but -"

"No, Ethan, that's exactly it; I don't like it. I don't like being the detectives of this case anymore. We've been through hell and back with this fucked up murders."

Erica crossed her arms. "You're being selfish, Weir."

"How the hell am I being selfish?" Benny's voice rose. "I just don't anyone to get hurt! We all know what these kind of murders lead up to, and this time, our names are the ones on its list! I don't want anyone to die again, guys!"

"Yeah, everyone's name except yours!" Erica retorts. Benny falls silence

"What do you mean?" Benny asked quietly. "There were five bodies, weren't there?"

Ethan looked down, his face crossed with guilt. Sarah glanced at Ethan, and her eyes widened.

"You didn't tell him?" Sarah asked in shock. Ethan sighed.

"He was going to find out anyway -"

"Find out what?" Benny exclaimed, cutting him off. "Ethan, why the hell didn't you tell me that I wasn't on this metaphorical list?"

"I didn't want to freak you out," Ethan answered.

"I don't know about you, but I'd freak out about me being _on_ the list, no offense," Rory said, butting in. Benny ran a hand through his hair.

"No, I see why you didn't tell me now." Benny's hand was trembling, and Ethan could see that he was on the bridge of frustration. "You're worried that something else will happen to me."

"Benny -"

"Well I am too, Ethan!" Benny snapped. "I am fucking worried about what's gonna happen to me, Ethan! Call me selfish, but I don't want to kill anyone else, especially if it's you guys! You remember what happened last time! You know what I-I -"

Benny lost the ability to speak at the last word.

'Did' is what he meant to say. ' _You know what I did.'_

Erica's eyes fall onto her lap.

"I'm sorry," she said, not knowing what she was sorry for. Benny looked away. Sarah tugged the hem of her shirt, and Rory coughed.

"So what are we facing?" Rory asked to break the ice. "Audrey is dead. As far as I know, the specter is having a blast in hell where it came from. Who else would have the reason to commit the same murders, and how does it involve us?"

"Maybe they know what we've done? What we've done to, you know, stop the evil plaguing Whitechapel?" Sarah prompted. Ethan shook his head, tapping his finger against the coffee table.

"I don't think so. Even if they know what we've done and wants revenge, why would they want to hunt us down? Why would they do the same things?"

"Think about it in a different perspective," Erica said. "What if we aren't dealing with a new enemy, but an old one?"

Everyone fell silent. Benny gulped.

"It's not impossible," Benny said at last. "Be honest, it's sounds like something that could happen."

Ethan sighed at how blunt the statement was. It was like Benny just gave up on believing in something better.

Feeling like it was somewhat appropriate, Ethan reached over and squeezed Benny's hand as an act of reassurance.

What he got instead was not reassuring at all.

 _*flash*_

 _A girl with auburn-coloured hair flashes into his view. There are no longer the colour that they once were, but were now demonic black._

 _*flash*_

 _A silver axe covered in dried blood being snapped in half, and some sort of black entity spilling out of it._

 _*flash*_

 _Blood. Crimson blood soaked the edges of his white view until the whole blank canvas was drenched in dark red._

 _*flash*_

Ethan reeled back as if he was just burned. Benny pulled his hand back slowly, looking at Ethan with wide eyes.

"You had a vision." Benny sounded rather dumbfounded. Ethan struggled to catch his breath, but managed a tired nod. Sarah rubbed his back, to which he smiled softly.

"I did." Ethan's voice was static and stoic. "It…"

Ethan frowned, before saying, "I can't really explain it."

Erica sunk into the couch with a slump. "Well that isn't the most helpful thing in the world, Ethan. Just tell us what you saw."

Ethan struggled to juggle all the details. His memories were jumbled with facts and repressed memories running past him, trying to find any common significance. One thing stood out in his mind.

"Blood," he said. "There was blood."

* * *

Despite the danger, they go for a walk at midnight to somewhat clear their thoughts. The walk happened in silence, but eventually they start to break it with new stories of their lives.

"One year can really change people," Sarah said fondly, digging her exposed hands in her coat pockets. She faced Ethan and said, "I can't believe you own a business."

Ethan blushed, his already red cheeks flushing with colour against his pale skin.

"It's really not that big," Ethan said. He smiled meekly, and added, "But I hope it will be soon."

Sarah's smile matched his. "Well I'm sure you'll make it happen."

"And Benny?" Erica said, facing the emerald-eyed spellmaster. "You said you were bumped up to chief commander of your department?"

Rory patted Benny's back on behalf on his silence. "Yup! This guy is basically my boss now."

"Not true," Benny said bashfully, "you are the one leading a team of DNA specialists for almost all the cases now. You basically have a bunch of minions behind you now."

Now it was Rory's turn to blush. Sarah smiled.

"Well life in Toronto is okay. Being an architect is fun though; I am nearly done the designs of a modern condo building in the area, and I'm leading the crew."

Ethan beamed. "Congrats! I know you told me that you were hoping you'd get the position. You've worked so hard for it."

"When did she tell you that?" Erica asked with a sly smirk. Both Ethan and Sarah blushed.

"She told me before she left." Ethan paused, then added, "And we've been texting sometimes."

"Love is in the air," Benny teased, and it made Ethan and Sarah turn red.

They walk along the park, the tense conversations from before disappearing in a thin breeze of autumn wind, and now replaced with laughter and stories.

All was good until they heard the scream.

They all visibly jumped, and the anxious thoughts reappeared. Rory sniffed the air, and turned to face the gang.

"I smell blood from," - He sniffed the air again, as if trying to confirm where the stench was coming from - the inside of the park's gazebo."

They all race towards the small gazebo, and gasp.

A boy's head was being sliced off in almost slow motion by a silver axe. Erica muffled her scream in her mouth as they watch the axe sprouting out from the dark shadows swing at the boy's neck, as if it was swinging a bat at a baseball.

"Holy fuck," Benny muttered in shock, not being able to tear his eyes off the scene.

The axe nearly retracted, and Ethan took this as an opportunity to run towards the shadow, despite Sarah trying to pull him back.

"Ethan! Get back here!" she screamed.

Ethan ignored their pleas, but stopped when he saw the boy sway on his feet and collapse on the ground.

His head fell on the ground beside his body, his face filled with welts of blood and peeling, decayed skin. It seemed as if the axe had did this, and it was an impossible act from the object. Blood surrounded the edges of the decapitated head, which was pale from the sudden cut of blood. There were scratches on the white face, that covered his bloodshot eyes and parted mouth, but Ethan could barely see them.

The last thing he sees from the shadows carrying the axe was a gleam of silver and a waft of auburn hair.

Rory's hand touched Ethan's shoulder, and it makes him jump.

"He looks really familiar…," Rory pointed out, trailing off. Benny shook his head wordlessly, stumbling towards the body and kneeling beside the head.

The eyes were the same shade of green as his, the emerald colour surrounded by lines of red over white. Written on his face, over the bloodshot eyes and over the bleeding lip, the jagged scratches on the boy's face combined to make one word.

" _BENNY."_

Benny skipped a breath. He could barely hear the surprised gasps of his friends, and could barely see the ground anymore. All he saw was red.

 _Red thoughts._

 _Red eyes._

 _Red blood._

He wasn't sure if he was just seeing things or if he was seeing something way beyond, but he felt delusional; demons he once repressed were soaring back, and one stood out amongst the rest.

 _A gleam of silver._

 _Eyes of black._

 _Skin of dark shadows._

He swayed on his feet, and collapsed on the ground, and the last thing he heard was his head making contact with the concrete, and the shocked gasps of his friends.

 _Black and red was all he saw now._

* * *

 **A/N- Well I hope you find that very spooky! Drop a review and I'll see you next week :)**

 ** _Keep On Keeping On_**


	2. Four Clues, Four Dead Ends

**A/N- Wassup? It be TOBN here with a brand new chapter of Reign of the Undead!**

 **It is the second week of October, and you know what that means? We are two weeks to October! How exciting, am I right?**

 **So last time was quite a lot, huh? A fresh murder, a new enemy - or perhaps an old one? I guess all will be answered on this week's edition of Reign of the Undead!**

 **Shoutouts to…**

 **MBAV fan66- Yes it has! I hope you are very excited for this year's new spooky story! And you are definitely right; the killer has gone to some extent this time, and will the gang manage? Probably not well, that's for sure :P Monday's are kind of dull, huh? Hopefully this one is worth being excited about :) Thanks for the review, fanfic buddy :)**

 **fangerdanger6- Glad you caught up, friend! And maybe you're right; who knows? Well, I do, but that's besides the point :P Thanks for reviewing, my friend; it's always appreciated. I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **With that, let's get some murders going on! (That is literally the worst sentence I've ever wrote, help me :P)**

 **Oh, and happy Thanksgiving, Canadian friends! I'm thankful for every single one of you guys *gives you a big hug, then pushes you back towards the nightmare which is this story* :P**

 **ENJOY!**

* * *

Reign of the Undead: Chapter 2: Four Clues, Four Dead Ends

* * *

Benny pressed the ice pack against his head, wincing slightly at the pain blossoming in his skull. Ethan hastily paced back and forth in front of him.

Sarah groaned, massaging her temples. "Ethan, I know you are nervous and all, but I swear, if you keep pacing like that –"

Ethan stopped, and blushed.

"Sorry," he said meekly. "Just a nervous tick that I happen to have."

"Well, you're making all of us nervous, dork," Erica said with a roll of her eyes, masking the slight fear in her voice.

Rory threw the papers in his hands onto Ethan's coffee table.

"I have no idea who killed the guy we found in the park last night," Rory said in frustration. "There were no fingerprints, no DNA samples, not even a flimsy clue left behind from the killer."

Erica huffed. "It took you an hour to figure that out?"

Rory rolled his eyes, and Benny just sighed.

"Maybe it's Audrey," he reasoned out. Ethan shook his head.

"It can't be her," Ethan said. "We killed her at that party a year have to be a bit rational about this –"

"Rational?" Benny echoed. "Rational. You want to be rational? Ethan, we're talking about a serial killer doing the same thing as Audrey, and that fucking specter."

"I know that, B, but we can't just say that it was her when she's obviously dead!"

"When did you become 'Lord of the Dead', Ethan?!" Benny yelled, shooting up from his seat. "How do you know she's dead! It was obvious that she was something different! We've dealt with resurrection and all that crap years ago on our silly supernatural hunts; how is this one any different?"

Sarah was at the window with a horrified look on her face.

"Guys…," she trailed off. Erica and Rory frown to look out with her, but the two friends were still yelling at each other.

"It just doesn't feel right -"

"Feel right?!" Benny's voice was above a roar.

"Guys?" Rory said, his voice wavering, looking at the sight in the dead of night. No one listened.

"Of course none of this feels right! This is _murder_ we're talking about! People have been murdered! Look, Ethan, all the pieces match up –"

"Can you be quiet for _two minutes_ and look outside the fucking window?!" Erica screamed, catching their attention. They exchange almost apologetic looks, and make their way to the window.

They peered out the window and gasped.

A dead body laid on Ethan's front yard.

…

 _and it smiles._

* * *

"Use your vamp-strength, Rory," Benny huffed as they carried the dead corpse into Ethan's house and laid it on Ethan's couch––much to the seer's dismay, as this was, according to Ethan, "a special edition of Gradbury Ray's _Silver Eyes_ collection".

"I'm trying!" he complained. "Dead people are heavy! You think with their soul not being there anymore, they would be lighter."

Erica rolled their eyes as they plopped the body on the couch. Ethan winced visibly when it was placed on his couch, and Sarah patted his back reassuringly.

"It's just a couch."

"It's _the_ couch," Ethan corrected her with a whine, and she stifled her laughs. Rory winced at the damage.

There was dried blood all over the body, resulting in deep cuts and welts bubbling all over his skin. Scratches covered his chest and his eyes were rolled back and bloodshot. Rory looked closer and bit his lip.

"His neck is crooked," Rory murmured, and stood back straight to add, "He died of a broken neck."

"Guys, I think there's something written on his chest," Erica said, looking a bit closer –

The lights snapped close, giving the gang a bit of a jump. Ethan instinctively went to the window and sighed when he saw the darkness on the street.

"Power cut," he said with a groan. "Can someone run upstairs and get my flashlight?"

Rory smirked, sped up the stairs, and came down with three flashlights in his hands – that were threatening to fall – in less than a second.

Ethan rose an eyebrow, and Rory shrugged.

"I didn't know which one to get," Rory said with a shrug.

Erica rolled her eyes and replied, "Of course you didn't."

Rory tossed one flashlight to Ethan, and he clicked it on. The light illuminated some parts of the room, but Ethan focused the light on the guy's chest.

"There's words carved on this guy's chest, but they are kind of indecipherable," Ethan said with a shake in his voice. Benny leaned over and read the words aloud.

" _30 minutes: if found, spared; if not, killed. 2: dead butterflies."_

"What the hell does that mean?" Erica murmured.

Suddenly, Ethan's TV flickered to life; the eight o'clock news.

" _Four more local civilians have gone missing since last night's murder-terror scene that was displayed in the park. Police are on the hunt for the bodies, which will be promptly taken away when found –"_

"Great," Erica said, "they're taking the bodies with them. Less work for us. Can we go now?"

Ethan shook his head, rereading the bloody message scratched on the guy's bare chest.

"No, we have to find them before the police does," he said, rushing to the coat rack to grab his jacket. Everyone went back on their feet. Voices jumped around the room at the same time.

"Are you crazy?!" Rory's.

"You're out of your mind!" Benny's or Erica's.

"Ethan, just let the police handle it." That was definitely Sarah. Ethan sighed.

"If we let the police take the bodies, we'll lose the clues. The killer is using these dead people to leave us clues; as gory as it sounds, we have to take them."

"Ethan, they'll see us." Benny's voice cracks with panic and fear. "They'll find us with the bodies and think we killed them. They'll link us back to Audrey, they might find out _I_ killed people a year ago –"

"You didn't kill anyone, Benny!" Ethan snapped.

"Yeah, but no one knows that!" Benny retorted. "The last thing those people saw before they died was _my_ lifeless eyes and _me_ swinging a damn axe at them!"

"For God's sake, Benny –"

"Will you two just shut your mouth for _one_ second?!" Erica screamed. "Please?!"

They fall silent. The whole house does. Rory's eyes manage to spot the time on the clock.

"It's ten after eight," Rory said, sneaking a glance at the body. "We need to find the second body."

Benny sent the first body to the Oblivion and as they went out, asked, "How will we know where the next clue is?"

Ethan frowned. "They mentioned dead butterflies. Where would you find dead butterflies in Whitechapel other than our filthy sidewalk?"

Sarah thought about it before answering, "There's a butterfly exhibit in the Royal Botanical Gardens; we can check there."

"But it's closed at this time of night," Rory pointed out. "It's illegal to trespass."

Erica rolled her eyes. "Rory, _everything_ about what we're doing is illegal; we blasted the first dead body out of planet Earth, and if the police want it, they'll _literally_ have to die for it."

Ethan smiled, nudging Benny's shoulder.

"Plus if anything happens, we have a first-class chief commander to back us up, huh, B?"

And Ethan watched as Benny cracked the first genuine smile that he's ever seen in a long time.

* * *

They snuck into the botanical gardens without a trace. The only mishap was when Rory tripped on a twig and nearly fell face-first onto the ground. Luckily, Erica was there to literally get him back on his feet.

"You can't get any more clumsier, klutz?" Erica hissed. "You could've set an alarm off! I thought you were a police officer!"

"That's Benny," Rory retorted. "I'm a forensic scientist, mind you."

Erica rolled her eyes. "To-may-to, to-mah-to."

"Quiet, you guys!" Sarah said through gritted teeth, seeing a glisten of neon green light through the creak of the open butterfly exhibit door. "I think I found the butterfly exhibit."

They walk slowly towards it, and Ethan frowned.

"It's open," he said quietly. "I don't understand why they would keep it open."

"Maybe they forgot to close it?" Rory asked dumbly. Erica fought every urge to elbow him in the rib.

"Or maybe it's because a fucking _murderer_ killed someone in here?" she asked sarcastically. Benny groaned.

"Quit your whining, you two," he said bluntly, pushing the door slightly. He peeked through the crack, and gagged loudly.

"Oh my God, that is fucking disgusting," he carelessly cursed, turning away from the slightly open door. Ethan sighed, patting him on the back.

"You can barf outside; we've seen worse. Let's go and get this over with."

With that, Ethan opened the door slowly, and his friends trail behind him. They stop mid-way on the trail between bushes of flowers in the dark.

Moths. It was the first thing they saw. It was an array of moths surrounding a body smeared in green lights. When they went closer, they winced; the body had no head.

"I think I found the head," Rory said with disgust, pointing to the severe head not too far beside the body. Erica gagged as she walked over the body covered with moths and picked up the head.

"Jesus, he's bald," Erica said, nearly dropping it onto the floor once more. "I swear, these just gets worse and worse."

Sarah knelt down beside the body, looking a bit closer before reeling back slightly with the sound of a gag stuck in her throat.

"The body is covered with some sort of glow-in-the-dark paint," she said, wobbling up to her feet. Benny bit his lip.

"That explains why there's a bunch of moths around it," he muttered. "Dead butterflies."

Rory looked at the head in Erica's hand, catching glimpse of crimson blood under the green paint, and he blew some moths away. Erica held the head out in disgust, keeping her as far away from it as possible.

"Well, there's some writing on this bald guy's head," Rory said quietly.

"Can you read it?" Ethan asked. Rory squinted at the bloody words caved against the bald surface.

" _Darkness once possessed him; now it's coming back. Third clue: red on forever-white grounds."_

"What do you think it means?" Sarah asked quietly as Erica dropped the severe head onto the ground, watching it crack slightly and let out a trickle of blood, which trapped some moths in its flow. Ethan watched it happen and winced at the moths drowning in the guy's dark blood.

Benny thought about it for a while before snapping his fingers and answering.

"They must be talking about the White Snow Forest," Benny said promptly. "It's best known for being white all year-round. The ground, the evergreen trees, and the lack of any life in the place; it's said that it once was drenched in red, orange, yellow and green, but a witch got angry with the colour and drained it all up for herself."

Erica yawned to show a point. "Sounds like bullshit to me."

"Be honest, it doesn't sound that far off," Ethan replied. "Anyway, I guess we should blast this guy to the Oblivion before the police find Mr. Bald-Moth-Man; I think we should get rid of him before anyone starts to suspect anything."

"Real subtle," Sarah deadpanned as Benny blasted the spell. Rory frowned.

"What do you think they meant by 'darkness once possessed him, now it's coming back'?" he asked curiously.

The gang exchanged looks, and Benny cleared his throat.

"White Snow Forest, anyone?" he squeaked.

* * *

They go there in less than five seconds, thanks to the vampire's super speed. When they get there, the girl is the first thing they see.

She's attached to the tree by a knife that was stuck in tree, as if the knife was thrown at her and kept her bounded to the tree. She was armless though; her two arms were on the ground, blood on the ends of where the shoulder blades should be. The victim wore all white, but blood poured out of her mouth and onto her white blouse. Her eyes were pitch black, but dried blood oozed out.

"Jesus, why?" Rory moaned, covering his eyes at the sight. "It's like that one daredevil that came to Whitechapel and threw knives at the volunteer that was strapped to a spinning wheel."

"Except the wheel is a tree and the volunteer was not a volunteer at all," Benny said with a shudder in his voice.

"There's blood on the ground," Erica said. "I think it spells something out. Kind of messy though; you think they'd write neater on a big, white canvas."

Everyone stared at the vampire, and she shrugged, adding, "I'm getting kind of antsy; there's been too much blood and a lack of sleep happening on my side."

Sarah rolled her eyes and read the sentence aloud.

" _Next time, don't reject her; finally, to grandmother's house we go, spellmaster."_

Ethan opened his mouth to propose a theory, but a whizz of a trail of black dust shot past him, nearly grazing this nose. He turned around in shock to see the body gone, and Benny's hand extended forward.

"Benny?!" he exclaimed. "What the hell?! You could've killed me –"

"G-Grandma," he stuttered. "She came back to visit me from Sans Francisco...she said she'd come back by taxi at eight-thirty––"

No words were said; they sped straight to Benny's house, where –

* * *

– Evelyn was dead.

Everyone stood there in some sort of shock, not able to get rid of the screams caught in their throats. They stood there at Evelyn's dead body.

She was hung on the ceiling by a bloody rope. Her face was blue, and her eyes were slit with x's carved on them in blood. Her heart was sliced out with a miniature axe, and a circle of blood surrounded the floor below her.

In tears, Benny knelt down in the middle of the circle, crying.

"A-A note, B," Ethan whispered, noticing a piece of paper soaked in red. Benny read it aloud.

" _You thought you killed her? You didn't. Let this be a warning; we're two in one form, and we're coming for you, spellmaster."_

…

 _their smile is as silver and as blood-soaked as the axe they held._

* * *

 **A/N- I will see y'all in a week XD**

 **Drop a review, and thanks for reading!**

 _ **Keep On Keeping On**_


	3. Three Nights, Three Nightmares

**A/N- Wassup? It be TOBN here with a new chapter of Reign of the Undead!**

 **So last week we had four clues - or at least, four dead people - scattered across Whitechapel, with the gang racing to find them all (the amount of temptation I have to not say 'catch 'em all' is too big for my own comfort :P) and the murders ending at Benny's house with his grandma! Boy, Evelyn is really getting the short end of the stick in most of my stories nowadays :P**

 **This week is a new chapter, and a new set of horrors for the gang! What will happen next? I guess you'll just have to read to find out :)**

 **Shoutouts to...**

 **fangerdanger6- I never watched Adventure Time, actually. I have always meant to; maybe I'll start soon :) Anyway, you keep guessing, and I guess I'll keep writing to fulfill the suspense. All will be answered in due time, my friend ;) Thanks for your review!**

 **Guest- Eeks, don't wet yourself :P But I am glad you are loving the story! I hope you continue, because it only goes in a downwards spiral from here :P Thanks for your review, friend :)**

 **MBAV fan66- It has put a strain on their relationship, hasn't it? More proof of that to come, but hopefully the two nerds of Whitechapel will find some way to make it up :) Yeah, that's a vacation ended terribly, if you think about it :/ I guess you'll have to wait and find out what's to come! I hope you like it, fanfic buddy, and thanks for your review as always :)**

 **With that, let's go on to the next chapter!  
**

 **Disclaimer: I still don't own MBAV or its characters. The rights go to Teletoon, Disney, and FreshTV. I do own the plot, and any OC's you find along the way.**

 **Drop a review, and...**

 **ENJOY!**

* * *

Reign of the Undead: Chapter 3: Three Nights, Three Nightmares

* * *

 _Ethan's eyes shot open, and he could finally see._

 _His eyes wandered through endless layers of shadows. They were crawling around him, and they swept across the arm of the chair he was on._

 _They were metal bindings against his wrists that held him to the cold surface of the chair. They were pressing against his wrist, threatening to chop them off._

 _A light flickered, and Ethan's eyes traveled to the source. The light shone on a familiar face._

 _Benny. He stood there with his eyes wide in fear. Ethan tried calling out to him, but he didn't notice._

 _All he noticed was the screeching noise of an axe being dragged across the floor, and -_

 ** _SLICE._**

 _Ethan's eyes widened in fear. The last thing he saw was the axe swinging down at Benny's back, and black eyes._

 _The light turned off, and when it was back on seconds later, it illuminated a different scene._

 _Benny's body was on the ground, face-first with an axe digging through his back. Blood spread across his back and to his neck, making its way to the mop of hair on his head._

 _Ethan couldn't scream. He was struggling to escape._

 _Stepping out of the shadows was the killer, pulling the bloody axe out of Benny's back. A black gloved hand wrapped around the grip of the weapon._

 _"Funny how you scream, as you will be the one to kill him."_

 _Ethan was lost for words; a dark, shadow-like entity crawled over Benny's body, and when it consumed his dead friend, the scream in Ethan's throat finally escaped and -_

Ethan's eyes shot open, and now he could finally see.

* * *

The nightmare still shook Ethan's bones throughout the entire day; the cup in his hand was the fourth coffee he had since seven in the morning.

It was the last words in particular that made Ethan shudder; _"You will be the one to kill him."_

It's a scary thought that he would ever kill anybody, let alone his best friend. Especially since the events in the last year or two have already tore their relationship to shreds.

Ethan walked out of his house and made his way to Benny's, trying to pace his racing heart-beat. He was debating whether or not he would tell his friends about his dream; did it have any significance? The shadow-like entity that consumed Benny at the end; was that the darkness that possessed - and would possess again, according to the clues on Mr. Moth-Man's body - him?

He finally decided against telling them; he wasn't going to tell them something that wasn't worth worrying about.

He hoped he made the right decision.

Ethan reached Benny's house and just walked in, realizing the doorknob was slightly broken. He frowned; this was already giving him an unsettling feeling.

Benny called everyone to a small meeting at his house two nights after Evelyn's death. He figured that he would be mourning in peace, but he was surprised it was quicker than anticipated.

Ethan walked into house and nearly tripped on a coat hanger that seemingly just fell. He yelped, and regained his footing.

The noise must've triggered activity from other living room; Benny, Erica, Sarah and Rory flooded into the small entrance, and Benny sighed.

"See?" he exclaimed, pointing to the fallen coat-hanger. "I told you there were some weird things happening here."

Benny had a bump on his head; it was the first thing that Ethan noticed about him. It was bruised, but looked fresh.

Erica's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"You know, it could just be that you are a really clumsy person," she said. Rory looked at her quizzically.

"The coat hanger?"

Erica shrugged. "Wind."

"What's going on?" Ethan asked at last, and Sarah ushered everyone back to the living room. It was strangely clean for a room that once held the crime scene of a murder.

Ethan had a feeling there would be no funeral for Evelyn, as then it would launch a series of events with the police, but this was confirmation that it wasn't happening; everything was spotless, except for a small area of black on the floor where magic seemingly seared through.

He must've done the same thing he did for all the bodies; the thought made him shiver.

Sarah sat them all down once more, and Ethan took off his hat and set it on the coffee table. He noticed the plate of cookies and smiled, grabbing one.

Without warning, the hat lifted up and smacked Benny in the face. Ethan nearly screamed at the sudden motion, and his cookie was snatched out of his hand and hit Benny near his bruised forehead. Rory stifled his laughs behind the palm of his hand.

"Whatever is causing this, it's definitely making the most out of it," Rory chuckled, and Benny rolled his eyes.

"You say that now," Benny grumbled, "but when I bring this son of a bitch to your house, you won't be happy when you are dragged out of a peaceful slumber down the stairs."

Ethan's eyes widened. "Is that where the bruise came from?"

Benny's hand instinctively went to the fresh bump on his forehead, and he sighed.

"Unfortunately, yes," Benny said. "I was sleeping soundly, and before I knew it I was pulled out of my bed by my arm and down the stairs. Needless to say, I would've preferred to be awaken by my alarm clock."

Sarah sighed. "What he's trying to say is that some weird things have been happening in his house, and he is trying to convince us that he isn't crazy."

"I'm not!" Benny protested. "I would think you guys would believe me by now; especially after all these terrible things that have been happening to us."

"To us?" Erica echoed, crossing her arms. "These 'terrible things' have been happening to only you."

Her bitter words bite the air, and Benny said nothing in response. Even Erica knew she was rude, but was too frustrated to say anything.

Ethan, on the other hand, had no trouble telling her off.

"Erica!" he exclaimed, somewhat shocked. "These things have been happening to all of us. And we stand by each other, no matter what."

Erica remained quiet, but shot an apologetic look to the spellmaster, who remained quiet. Ethan faced Benny.

"How about this," Ethan started off. "You can crash at my place for now, but we stake-out at your house every night."

"Uh, no thanks!" Sarah said. "If some crazy thing is happening at Benny's house, I really don't want to be a part of it."

Ethan sighed. "Sarah -"

"I really don't want to do this anymore," Sarah said, a bit more quietly. "I have a family to come home to. I don't think I can do this anymore. There's just been too much happening, and I know I didn't seem bothered by it before, but now -"

"If you don't want to go, you don't have to." Benny's voice cut her off.

"What?!" Ethan exclaimed. Rory looked at the spellmaster incredulously.

"Hey, if she gets a day off, why can't I?" he whined. Sarah frowned.

"Are you sure?" Sarah asked, hesitation lingering in her voice. Benny nodded.

"I would never force you into something dangerous," he said quietly. "I don't want to be here, dealing with... _all this_ , but I have to. I would never let someone go along with this against their own will."

Ethan remained quiet. Sarah sighed, shaking her head.

"You know what, I'm being stupid," she said, squeezing Benny's hand. "I never abandoned you guys before, and I'm not starting now."

Everything was merely a buzz in Benny's ears, until it stopped, and Benny realized it was now completely silent.

He mustered the courage to sneak a glance at Erica, who was fiddling her thumbs on her lap. She looked as if she was thinking deeply about something; God, how much money Benny would pay to know what she is thinking right now.

"So that's it then," Erica said at last. "We stakeout at this haunted house every night until…?"

Her words trailed off. Rory sighed, munching a cookie.

"Until we find out who the killer is, I guess," he replied. Ethan nodded, a sense of determination flooding through his system.

"We aren't going to stop until this is all over," Ethan said. _"All of it."_

* * *

They all went out to get frozen yogurt after leaving Benny's house, and chatted like there was nothing happening. Of course, the tension was still there, but the gang found it easy to cut it with a knife for now - or at least, loosen it so it wasn't tugging at their necks.

Afterwards, they all went their separate ways; Erica and Sarah returned to their hotel rooms, and Rory went back to the lab to do some more tests on a new case he was looking at. Both Ethan and Benny filed for a sick day, so the two made their way to Ethan's house.

"You can either take the guest room or take my room," Ethan said. "Either one is fine; you basically lived on my bedroom floor all those years ago."

"All those years ago," Benny echoed quietly. "I'll take the guest room."

Ethan nodded wordlessly, trying not to show any disappointment in his voice. He led Benny to the guest room, and opened the door.

"Welcome to your home-away-from-home," Ethan said with a smile. Benny bit back a grin, and tugged his backpack to the side of the bed.

"Is that all you have?" Ethan asked. "As much as I hate to say it, you might stay here for a while."

Benny shrugged. "I got a toothbrush, shampoo, conditioner, a spellbook, clothes, and case files to do as 'homework'; I think I'm good."

"You didn't bring any comics or anything?"

"I'm not sixteen anymore," Benny said quietly, and when he saw Ethan's face fall, he added, "Plus, you always had a better stash then I did."

Ethan's smile perked up again, and Benny hid a smile behind his back. He began unpacking a series of jeans and graphic t-shirts into the bedroom drawer, when Ethan sighed.

"I wasn't kidding when I said this was your home-away-from-home," Ethan said quietly. "You are always welcome to stay here, even when you're not in a supernatural crisis."

Benny looked at him. "I'm fine, Ethan."

It's like he could stare right through his mind. Ethan tried his best not to look too concerned, but he couldn't help it.

"Are you sure?" Ethan asked. "I mean, this isn't just some random person's death anymore -"

"She was to some, so think about them before you think about me." Ethan didn't even understand what that meant, but he didn't want to question it.

Silence passed, and Benny added, "I'm really glad you're my friend, Ethan. After all these years. It's nice to know that we stuck.

Ethan softly smiled, and not trusting himself to bigger words, replied, "Same."

Benny turned his attention back to unpacking his things, and Ethan walked over to sit on the foot of the bed closest to Benny.

Benny could feel Ethan's stare on him. He closed his eyes and dropped the last of his clothes in the drawer.

"Hey, E?"

Ethan looked over at him. "Hmm?"

"Can I ask you a favor?"

"Of course," Ethan instantly said, before somewhat regretting it. Benny looked at him for a second before shooting his glare down at the floor.

"If anything happens when it's my life against yours," Benny said, "take mine."

Ethan's breath was caught in his throat. He looked at any signs that Benny could possibly be joking, but there was nothing. Ethan couldn't find the words to say.

"W-What?" he stammered. Benny nodded.

"Take my life if it means saving yours," Benny repeated. "Promise?"

Ethan shook his head frantically. "O-Of course not! Benny, I would never. You're my best friend...I would never…"

"Please don't make this harder for me, Ethan," Benny said, his voice nearly a whisper. "You know that the... _thing_ we're facing is after me. I-I don't want you to get hurt. Please, just promise -"

"I would never," Ethan said again, more confidently this time. Benny sighed, defeated.

"Fine," Benny said, standing up from his place on the ground. "You know what, it's all fine."

"You can't just expect me to be able to answer something like that -"

"No, it's _fine_." Benny repeated. "I _'_ m fine."

With that, Benny walked out of the room, leaving Ethan on the bed, shaking; why couldn't he just agree? Benny would never get hurt, and Ethan would never have to kill him -

 _ **"Funny how you scream, as you will be the one to kill him."**_

 _'Oh,'_ Ethan thought wearily. _'That's why.'_

* * *

 _"You're beautiful," Benny said amongst a thick cloud of pink mist, sitting on the couch with the love of his life. She smiled._

 _"I am," she said, "but it's only because you make me beautiful. You remind me that I am beautiful on the inside and out, which is all that counts."_

 _"Hey, someone needed to remind you," Benny said with a grin. He hasn't smiled so hard since…_

 _It was eerily quiet, now that he thought about it._

 _"I'm going to go play some records," he said at last, standing up, his back facing her blue eyes. "Any requests?"_

 _"I request to go back to the 21st century," she joked behind his back. "Who even uses records anymore -"_

 _That was as far as she went. A blood-curling scream ripped from her throat, and Benny turned around with his wide eyes._

 _"Audrey?!" he screamed. The auburn-haired girl smiled._

 _"I was never gone." She held Erica's heart in her hands, black blood seeping from the detached heart and onto her face, which was slowly being consumed in thick, black blood._

 _"W-We...k-killed -" Benny felt lightheaded as Audrey zoomed up to his face, her pitch black eyes - he swore she had brown ones - drilled into his skull._

 _"You're next, Weir." Her voice was layered with her regular, maniac voice; and a deeper, demonic one._

 _She smiled a yellow grin._

 _"Turn the music on, Weir; I'd love to listen to The Beatles with you."_

 _Benny screamed at her rotten teeth, black blood oozing out of her gums like an oil spill._

 _"Well? Come on, Benny, ask me."_

 _He said nothing. She rolled her eyes._

 _"Fine. Some gentleman you are. Is -"_

" - this seat taken?"

Benny quickly opened his eyes from his semi-slumber, adjusting to the dark sky; how long has he been there? Was Ethan worrying about him? And that dream…

He tried to control his breathing as he looked up and to see Erica, holding two coffees in her hand. She wore a pale pink-stained smile.

Trying not to seemed to fazed by the nightmare, he shook his head, and she sat beside him.

"Caramel macchiato?" she said, holding a cup towards him. "I know it's your favourite."

Benny hesitates, but takes it anyway; it wasn't for himself, but it was just to please her - which he thinks is something he's been doing a lot of nowadays.

"Thank you," he said quietly. Erica nodded.

"It's my favourite too." She looked down at her drink and adds, "I would've taken it myself, but I know you hate pumpkin spice lattes."

Benny crinkled his nose at the thought. "Too much spice; I don't think I can even taste the pumpkin in it."

"Fair enough." Erica sipped from her drink, a smile behind her cup. "I guess I'm the only one who needs to spice up their life."

"Your life is just fine," Benny said bluntly, taking a sip from his drink.

Erica sighed, putting her drink on her chest.

"That's actually something I wanted to talk about," she said quietly. Benny frowned.

"What do you mean?"

Erica avoided eye contact with him. "I just wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier. I shouldn't have said that. I should've known that you -"

"It's fine," Benny said for the umpeenth time today. "It's always fine."

"It was an offhanded remark that I shouldn't have said -"

"You always make 'offhanded remarks'," Benny said in air quotations. "Just like every single time, I don't care."

Erica bit her lip. "That's not exactly the answer I was hoping for."

Benny shrugged. "We're not sixteen anymore, Erica; you never apologized then, and I realize you want to act like an adult, but you don't have to apologize now."

Erica remained quiet. Benny realized what he said was rude, but he couldn't bring himself to care.

"But how are you, Benny?" she asked quietly, her words hitting the cool, night air. "Like, seriously. Don't give me an 'I'm fine' or something."

Benny tried not to let his hand shake. He takes another small sip of his drink.

"I don't know," Benny admitted. "Too much has happened. Grandma's dead, there's some serial killer," - Benny bit back the word "again" in his throat - "and everything has been too much. I don't want this person targeting me, but I don't want them targeting others I love."

The realization hit Benny when he said the words aloud; he was crazy. He was thinking off too many things, and -

"I didn't know you loved me, dork." Erica's voice snapped him out of his anxious daze. He looked up at her and tried to hold a smirk in.

"Didn't specify that I was talking about you, nerd," he said with a smile. When he saw her astounded expression, he added, "You are much better as a nerd rather than a jackass, you know?"

Erica blushed. "You can never get me back to that dark hole of comic books and superheroes."

"I can certainly try!"

Benny's cloud of angst lifted, and he watched Erica laugh, her white teeth almost glistening against the soft glow of the moon - now that he thought of it, her whole face was illuminated by the moonlight.

"You're beautiful," he whispered quietly.

Erica looked at him. "W-What?"

Benny grinned. "Maybe you are the specified nerd I was talking about."

Before he could stop himself, he pulled her shoulders closer to him and kissed her under the lamp post's artificial light. Erica was shocked at first, but she moved into the kiss with a smile.

Benny couldn't taste blood like he thought he would; she tasted cherry, peppermint, an explosion of summer on a cold night.

She pulled back slightly, her lips grazing against his.

"I'm beautiful," she said, "but it's only because you make me beautiful. You remind me that I am beautiful on the inside and out, which is all that counts."

Benny's eyes widened in fear.

It was all happening the way it was described in his nightmare.

 _"I'm going to play some records."_

"Anyway, you want to back to my place? I just got a rare copy of The Beatles' _Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band_ on vinyl -"

 _"Any requests?"_

"I know it's unlike of someone in the twenty first century, but you know how much I love record players…"

 _"You're next."_

He imagined her undead heart stopping.

 _Benny screamed,_ and pushed her back. Erica nearly spilled her drink, but Benny's coffee toppled over and onto the ground. He looked at her wide, worried eyes, and his heart raced.

"B-Benny? W-Wha -"

"Y-You can't...we can't…," Benny stuttered, and shook his head, trying to shake reality away from his imagination.

"Benny, you need to relax -" Erica held her hand out, but Benny pushed it away.

"This thing between us can never happen," Benny said lowly. "You would be in danger. Forget this ever happened, okay?"

And Benny bolted off before Erica could even say a word, leaving the blonde vampire in the shadows.

* * *

Benny and Erica made no eye contact in the first two hours of the stake-out at Benny's house. Midnight passed, and Ethan set more coffee on the table. Sarah turned on the TV, and Rory frowned.

"This seems more like a casual hang-out with friends more than a stake-out," he pointed out, and Benny nodded.

"You're right, Rors," he said. "I've been on the scene of many stake-outs, and they've mostly been quiet, still, and behind bushes."

"Then this isn't really a stake-out, I guess," Ethan said, his eyes focused on the late night cartoons. "This is more of a 'let's hang out until something bad happens' kind of thing."

"Reassuring," Erica stated, clearly bored. "I wanted some kind of suspense."

"The suspense of a serial killer threatening to murder us all isn't enough for you?" Sarah retorted, and Erica rolled her eyes.

"If we're going to watch cartoons, we have to do it right," Rory said, standing up. "I'm going to microwave some popcorn."

Everyone's face lit up, despite them being in such a tense situation, and Rory took it as a confirmation. He went over to the kitchen and pulled out a bag of popcorn in Ethan's cabinet.

He whistled a nameless tune, ripping the plastic off the bag and placing it on the microwave, pressing the popcorn button and watching the inside light up. The bag began to spin, and he stood there, listening to the kernels pop.

The microwave shook slightly at every pop, shaking the bag with it.

"Well that isn't normal," Rory said, and then a little louder, "Ethan, I think your microwave is either broken or is about to explode -"

The microwave began to rumble on the cabinet, and Rory backed up slowly as it shook off the wooden surface. The plug popped out of the socket behind the cabinet, and the force pulled the cabinets down.

The last thing Rory heard was his friends' screams, and the pop of a single kernel.

* * *

 _Rory woke up to a black abyss. He walked around - or at least, he thinks he walked; while his conscience was still present, he couldn't see or feel his body._

 _"Hello?" he said - or thought - aloud. "Is anyone there?"_

 _Suddenly, a waft of familiar auburn hair swept past him. He turned around instinctively, holding his fists up for a fight._

 _A hysterical laugh sounded in his head; "You think I was ever gone?"_

 _Rory struggled to breathe; a dark entity surrounded him, and he tried to battle it away. He did his best to escape, but to no avail, the darkness consumed him, until he wasn't sure if his conscience was still there._

* * *

Rory woke up to a bright sun, and his scream sent his friends flying down the staircase and into the kitchen. They looked at Rory, who was on the ground with his hands covered in a thick, red substance, and then looked beside him.

Benny was on the ground, covered in blood.

* * *

 **A/N- I hoped you liked that, friends! I guess I will see you next Monday ;)**

 _ **Keep On Keeping On**_


	4. Two Villains, Two Schemes

**A/N- Wassup? It be TOBN here with a new chapter of Reign of the Undead!**

 **So it is a week until Halloween, and things are just getting more and more hyped! I am very happy to say that everything that has happened has led up to this chapter! Are you excited? I am excited! One more chapter after this...**

 **Shoutouts to...**

 **thewannabeyellowranger/Bribubbs (I assume you are the same people)- Thank you for all your kind words! I am glad you like what you are reading, my friend! I hope you keep on reading, because there is more to come :)**

 **fangerdanger6- Maaaaaaybe! I guess you'll have to find out in this chapter, huh? The cliffhanger at the end of this chapter is probably going to make you even more angrier, but I'll let you read into that ;)) Thanks for reading, my friend!  
**

 **MBAV fan66- Who knows? All will be [kind of] answered in this chapter! And I know, right? It's already been a month...that is a month closer to the end of the year, which is really surprising. Anyway, enough about that! Enjoy the chapter, fanfic buddy :)**

 **Oh! One more thing.**

 **HAPPY BELATED FANFIC BUDDY DAY, FANFIC BUDDY! I know I am four days late, but I just want you to know that I love you very much. Two years and let's keep it going :D**

 **Anyway, now that I got that out to the world, I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own MBAV or its characters - the rights go to FreshTV, Teletoon, and Disney. All I own is the plots and the OC's.**

 **P.S- Listen to the Hamilton soundtrack. I am in love. If anyone is willing to let me go to see Hamilton, I will be in forever in your honour XD**

 **ENJOY!**

* * *

Reign of the Undead: Chapter 4: Two Villains, Two Schemes

* * *

" _Are you okay?!" His friends coming flooding into the kitchen to see the microwave on the floor and Rory on the ground, unconscious. A trickle of blood trailed down his forehead._

" _I knew this was a bad idea," Benny murmured, kneeling beside his friend and shaking him. "Rory, come on, get up."_

 _Rory shot up at the sudden contact, making everyone jump back in shock, and stared at his friends._

…

"W-What happened?" Rory stuttered, scrambling up to his feet. He crawled towards Benny, wiping the blood off the spellmaster's forehead. "Benny? Benny, wake up, dammit!"

"You don't remember anything?" Sarah whispered, a tremble in her voice. Rory shook his head.

"Should I remember anything?"

"...well, it can't be a good thing," Ethan said hesitantly, and Rory stood up.

"Tell me what happened," Rory demanded. "I need to know. Did I hurt him? What did I do?"

"It was kind of a blur," Erica admitted. Rory scoffed, crossing his arms.

"A blur?" he echoed. "For _you,_ it was a blur?! I could've killed Benny, and I don't even know it!"

"Rory, calm down," Sarah said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't let this get to you. It has been a really confusing morning for all of us, and I think the best we can do for now is just calm down.

Rory dug his blood-stained hands in his pocket in defeat. Erica decided to move to Benny and try to get him up. Sarah and Ethan stayed with Rory.

"What was the last thing you remember?" Ethan asked. Rory shrugged.

"I was making popcorn," he said, "and then the microwave started to act weirdly. I don't know what was happening, but I am pretty sure it exploded or something."

"It didn't explode," Sarah corrected. "It fell off and must've hit you in the head."

"It did?" Rory asked. "Maybe that's why I can't remember anything. How long was I out?"

Ethan and Sarah exchange looks.

"The whole night," Ethan said. He nervously looked at Sarah and added, "And, um, you weren't exactly ' _out'_ either."

"What do you mean?" Rory asked, his voice shaking in fear. No one spoke for what seemed like eternities, before Erica ushered everyone to go to the living room, where she had moved Benny onto the couch.

"He's awake," Erica announced as everyone flooded into the room. Benny stirred, instinctively wiping blood off his forehead as if it was merely sweat.

He lowered his hand and gasped at its red stain, and he immediately looked at Rory, who was staring at him in some kind of fear.

"Y-You -" Benny started off, but Rory shook his head.

"It wasn't me, B," Rory said, trying his best not to stutter. "S-Something happened to me. Last night, I mean. I-I didn't...y-you…"

"I'm sure you didn't," Benny managed to say. Sarah sped to the bathroom to get a towel and handed it to Benny. He wiped the blood off his forehead, and winced at the touch.

"Back of the head and forehead," Ethan murmured, looking at the dark red spot under Benny's hair and the cut above his eyebrow. "Does anyone having a bandage, or better yet, a dressing?"

"There might be some in grandma's medicine cabinet upstairs," Benny replied. Ethan looked at Sarah, and she nodded, speeding up and got a few dressings and large bandages. Ethan smiled in gratitude, and used one dressing to press against the bleeding wound, and quickly wrapped it. He took a band-aid and peeled the backing off. He put it on Benny's forehead.

"I think my forearm too," Benny mumbled, "though I think it's more drained of blood than bleeding out dangerously."

"I bit him," Rory whispered. Sarah rubbed his shoulder as Ethan pulled Benny's sleeve up to reveal two fang-marks on his forearm. Dried blood surrounded the bite. Ethan wrapped it anyway, just in case.

Benny looked at Rory. "You roughed me up good. Do you remember what happened?"

" _R-Rory?"_

 _Black eyes._

 _He barely heard Erica speak. "...that's not supposed to be a thing, is it?"_

" _His eyes are black…," Ethan trailed off. "You don't think…"_

 _Rory stood up and sped up to his friends in a blur. His friends screamed, and scattered across the house. Rory, trapped in his own mind, smiled._

" _ **Well, well,,"**_ _a voice - was it him? - said._ " _ **You didn't think I was gone, did you? You guys, against me? You're not -**_

\- thing," Rory answered. "There's nothing I can remember."

Benny sighed. "No bother trying to remember then."

"What do you mean?" Erica immediately asked. "None of us know what happened. We need to find out what happened with Rory last night, and why it targeted him."

"I know that, but there's no point in forcing him," Benny replied as he sat up. "If he can't remember what happened, we shouldn't try to force him. Let it come to him."

Erica hesitantly nodded. Benny looked at Sarah.

"How about you guys?" he questioned. "Do you know what happened?"

Sarah frowned. "It was pretty fast paced, so I definitely won't get most things right, but we all just went to the kitchen we we heard the microwave fall and we just found Rory on the floor, his eyes pitch black.

"Go on," Benny said, leaning forward and resting his chin on his knuckle.

"Rory just...attacked us," Sarah admitted. "He stood up and sped towards us. We all broke apart in panic, and we spread across the house. Ethan, Erica and I went upstairs, but Benny stood downstairs to get his spellbook in Evelyn's basement chamber."

"I went down there." Everyone stared at Rory.

"What do you mean?" Ethan asked.

"I went downstairs," Rory repeated. "I kind of remember now. I went downstairs...then I saw Benny with his back against the bookshelf, his spellbook in his hand. I think he was going to fire a spell...actually, I think he did."

Benny nodded. "I did. I think it was a reflection spell to get some magical energy and reflect it towards you. It wasn't going to hurt you, but it was the only spell I could think of that could ward you off for a while."

" _T-This isn't you, Rory, it can't be," Benny stuttered, his back pressing against the bookshelf. His hand was extended forward, ready to fire, and his open spellbook was on his left hand._

" _ **Of course it isn't your blond ditz,"**_ _he - who was it?! - said._

" _Don't make me blast you with something that will probably hurt a lot," Benny said, trying not to stammer, but kept his ground. "I don't want to hurt you."_

 _ **It**_ _grinned and said,_ " _ **I do."**_

"It was like I wa strapped in my own mind," Rory said, memories flowing back. "I remember being there, but not physically... _being there._ "

"Possession," Ethan confirmed. "Someone - or something - possessed you after you hit your head, and it used you to attack Benny."

"Do you remember the attack?" Sarah asked quietly, facing Benny. He frowned.

"Barely," he answered. "I remember him bashing my head into the bookshelf...then him speeding me upstairs into the kitchen. That's when I blanked out. I don't know if I managed a hit on him, or -"

"You did," Rory cut him off, lifting his shirt to show a black bruise on his torso. "Hit me in the stomach. I think that's why I - or whatever it was - dragged you to the kitchen."

"We tried helping," Ethan supplied. "We really did, but something kept us upstairs. Some kind of wall came out of nowhere and -"

"Wall?" Erica interrupted. Ethan nodded.

"Yeah, some wall just...appeared. I think you were in Benny's bedroom trying to find some stakes or something."

Rory's eyes widened. "You were going to stake me?!"

"Only if it got worse!" Erica retorted defensively. "Besides, I wasn't going to hurt you _that_ much. It would probably just leave a hole in your back or something..."

"That could kill me!" Rory cried incredulously. Erica rolled her eyes.

"What's so important about a wall?" Sarah asked, cutting their conversation short.

"When Benny was possessed by the specter, he conjured some kind of wall and I ran into it. I was knocked out instantly, but before I ran into it, I just saw it stretch for an infinite distance...like, there was no end to it, and it was indestructible."

"What are you trying to say?" Ethan asked, fear hinting in his voice.

"I'm saying that Rory must've been possessed by the specter," Erica answered confidently. "He was knocked out from the specter pushing the microwave off the counter and onto his head, and he took over so it could attack Benny. I don't know why, but at this rate, it's pretty obvious. Especially if the specter had the same motives as -"

"Audrey," Benny finished off for him. "Her body. She was found dead in a graveyard. If the specter is back, it has to take some sort of form. Do you think the specter...possessed her?"

Everyone fell quiet. Rory looked at Benny.

"I know they've been doing an ongoing investigation on Audrey's death last year," Rory explained. "They've been doing the investigation ever since they linked Audrey to the murders. They said she took her own life in the graveyard…"

"They closed off the cemetery ever since the investigation started happening," Benny added. "They've been preserving Audrey's body, but she hasn't been moved because they deem her 'dangerous'. Do you think she's still there?"

Sarah gulped. "Only one way to find out."

* * *

Yellow caution tape was attached to a few trees in the graveyard, making a web over a bloody cloth. There were a few policemen at the scene keeping an eye out, but Benny flashed his badge in one swift motion, and they stepped aside. Benny motioned for everyone to follow him, and he stepped under the tape and into the scene of crime.

"I don't know why Audrey ended up here," Sarah whispered. "Like, we killed her in the basement of the abandoned house last year. Did they move her? Did something else move her?"

"I don't know," Benny answered, staring at the cloth on the ground. "All I know is Audrey is long gone - this cloth is supposed to be covering her body to preserve it."

"Some preservation," Erica scoffed. "I can find that cloth in the dollar store."

"It was the best we could do!" Rory protested, and Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Okay, so Audrey is missing," Ethan said. "Maybe they moved her to the lab."

"Someone would've told me," Rory pointed out. "I am the head of the department and all. Someone would probably tell me if it was moved - if not, they'd tell the police department."

"It's worth checking out," Benny pointed out. "I can ask one of the people on scene right now - I think one of them is on the forensic science department."

Rory looked over Benny's shoulder and smiled. "Yeah, that's Jon! Maybe we can say hi too!"

Benny rolled his eyes, and Rory trailed behind him. Ethan, Sarah, and Erica stood at the scene, staring down at the bloody blanket below their feet.

"It's crazy," Ethan murmured. "One day, we're dealing with some vengeful ghost-actress, and now we're standing at the scene of a possibly-possessed maniac."

"It is weird," Sarah concurred. "When we were fighting what we called 'supernatural threats' back then, I would never imagine using my powers to handle cases like these."

"I think we should leave Whitechapel," Erica hummed quietly. "It's too much for us now. We all know there are people here that can handle these kinds of things - the Vampire Council, the group of Earth Priestesses; even Jesse has his eye on this town."

"You've left," Ethan said quietly. Sarah frowned.

"She means you, Ethan," she whispered. "You, Rory, and Benny. It's not safe here. You've done this place the justice it deserves. Don't you ever want to leave?"

Ethan sighed, looking down.

"Whitechapel's my home," he said at last. "And call me crazy, but I don't think I could live without having to stake a psychopath-vampire, or send a blood-thirsty demon back to hell."

Silence. Ethan looked up at Erica.

"Do you miss it?" he asked. "Whitechapel, I mean."

Erica scoffed. "Of course I miss it. That's why I brought it up - there was a lot more to this town than just supernatural crazies."

Ethan smiled at the thought. As they quietly conversed, they saw Rory and Benny speeding up towards them. Their eyes were wide with fear. Sarah stared ahead.

"What happened?" she asked as they got closer. Rory ran his hand through his hair anxiously.

"It's Audrey," he breathed out. "They said the body disappeared yesterday. They don't know where it is, but I do. It has to be in Benny's house, we need to go before it's too -"

A shriek of laughter echoed in the air. Everyone looked up at the sky to see a shot of darkness blast through the icy blue sky, and they all exchanged looks. Each vampire took a mortal and they sped off in a blast.

* * *

They slammed through the unlocked door and crowded in the front entrance, staring at what was in front of them - a memory they locked inside their minds that was standing right in front of them.

It was _Audrey;_ her eyes black, and her hair still the red-orange colour it was a year ago. The only difference is the blood.

It was dripping everywhere; on the tips of her hair, across her wounded arms, and pouring infinitely down her chest where Erica dug the axe. The blood poured down like a waterfall.

"A-Audrey," Benny stuttered. "It can't be you. We killed you...last year...in the basement of some dingy house. How the hell did you get back?"

" **hell."**

Her voice was different - she spoke in a monotonous voice with different pitches, much like to someone they all knew before…

"You're possessed," Ethan said, almost in a dumbfounded sense. "The specter...it possessed you in hell. That's how you came back, wasn't it?"

" **I-it sAveD mE. nO oNe wOuLD."**

All of the sudden, she disappeared with smirk, a blur of the ghost where she just was dissolving into the air. Everyone watched as the light fixture on the ceiling swayed, blinking on and off.

"Guys -" Benny started off, then it happened.

Audrey was facing him.

His friends cries were drowned out by the sudden shock that went through the spellmaster. He stared into her thick, black eyes, as if they were drowning him into an ocean of fear and despair.

" _ **reJecT mE oNce,"**_ _she cried,_ " _ **noW nEvER aGaIn."**_

And she took her silver axe and stabbed it into his chest. His friends screamed as his breath cut short, shakily looking down to see the blood oozing from the clean cut. He nearly cried out in pain as she took it out.

As he began to black out, he felt his knees sink to the ground and his friends rushing to his side. The last thing he heard was her voice.

" _ **nOw uS lOvErS haVe mAtcHing sCarS."**_

* * *

 **A/N- I will see you next week, my friends :)**

 _ **Keep On Keeping On**_


	5. A Final Reunion For The Wrong Reasons

**A/N- ...**

* * *

Reign of the Undead: Chapter 5: A Final Reunion For All The Wrong Reasons

* * *

 **One Month Later**

Sarah ushered his friends down the hospital halls, and they walked past doors until they found the one they were looking for.

"Do we have to?" Ethan asked quietly, not facing the number on the door. "It's been a month. What if he never wakes up? I don't want to continue to seeing him when he's basically de -"

The word doesn't escape his lips. Rory shook his head.

"He's not dead," he interrupted bluntly. "Being in a coma is not dead."

"But he isn't alive, is he?" Ethan hissed. "He is barely breathing. He might as well be fucking dead."

"Calm down, Ethan," Sarah warned. "You don't mean that."

"She's right," Erica added. "We shouldn't been saying that."

"We haven't done anything since Benny...you know what." Ethan bit back a cry. "There are more people being killed and we haven't done anything. Audrey is still out there, and we haven't done a thing. If this is affecting us so much, what are we going to do when he's actually gone?"

Everyone fell quiet. Rory clutched the hem of his jacket.

"Let's just go in," he said quietly. "We can talk about this later."

Ethan held his opinion back and they opened the door. One by one they went into the room and pulled up a few chairs beside Benny's hospital bed.

His forehead was wrapped in a bandage, covering the cut that he got from when he fell, but the most visible injury on his body was his chest.

His bare torso was wrapped in bandages, covering the long, deep cut on his chest. Dried blood dotted the material, but his pale complexion was the canvas of it all.

His eyes had purple bags underneath them, despite him having the "best" sleep out of his friends. His face was white, as if he saw a ghost, and he was growing scarily skinny.

He has been here for a month. They checked him in as soon as Audrey left, and they stopped the bleeding from becoming worse. The paramedics found out that there were multiple internal injuries - primarily his right lung, which were also affected from the stab. Benny had surgery, but according to the doctors, his body stayed in a coma ever since.

The murders in Whitechapel increased to a point where the mayor had considered an all-city lockdown. No one was to go in or out of Whitechapel, and nobody could go out of their houses when it was past seven and it was dark.

Whitechapel, to the world, was now considered a dying city.

And Ethan was right - they haven't done anything to try and make some process in finding Audrey. Ever since the incident at Benny's house, she just disappeared without a trace. This time, none of the friends made an effort to find out where she went.

"It's been worse, B," Rory whispered, snapping everyone out of their thoughts. "No offense, but you look worse as well. The doctors...they say it's a slim chance you'll ever get out of your coma."

No one said anything. Benny's steady heartbeat was beeping quietly on the monitor, and Ethan's thoughts were racing. With every word he listened to, he found it harder to cope with the possibility of his best friend's death.

"Let's go," he whispered from his seat.

"Ethan -" Sarah tried to stop him, but he shook his head.

"Let's go," he said again, standing up with a force that nearly knocked his chair over. Erica looked at him, confused.

"We haven't even stayed for five minutes," Erica pointed out. "Benny...he might, uh, want us here or something."

That was fair, Ethan thought. However, even the thought of staying for Benny's sake made his stomach turn.

"Fine," he said bitterly, "but I'm leaving."

No one said a word, and Ethan walked out of the room, his hands dug in his pockets. He sped past countless nurses and doctors, carrying files of dying patients and reports of sudden deaths.

' _Death_ '. It was the only word he heard in the building.

He didn't care if his friends thought he was selfish or rude - he was grieving a death not yet received. He was grieving a death that hasn't come to take his best friend away, but was tugging at his sleeve and pulling him towards it.

His grief didn't matter, because, as much as he hated to admit it, Benny wasn't dead. Not yet.

 _'But you'll be the one to kill him,'_ he thought, dread leaking through the words in his head.

What did the dream mean, Ethan still didn't know. Ever since Audrey - or whatever was possessing her dead body - plunged the axe into Benny's chest, Ethan thought of a million ways that he could possibly make that nightmare a reality.

He could be the one to decide to pull the plug on whatever was saving Benny. That was the first thing Ethan thought of. It was seemingly probable, now that he thought about it - sure, it wasn't that violent like the nightmare implied it to be, but it would still affect him. The decision of letting go of the one chance of survival his friend had - it would be something he would never forget.

Perhaps it would be an accident. Benny would be fine, but Ethan would screw it up somehow. It was closest thing Ethan could imagine being a bit more real. Sure, he wasn't stupid, but the responsibility of life or death would probably make him pressured, thus allowing him to snap and mess up.

It made him more sick than the first thought.

The last theory was that he wouldn't be the one to kill him, but would be the vessel of something that wanted to.

Possession. It sent shivers down his spine. He didn't want to imagine it - the thought of killing his friend and not even knowing it made him more scared than ever. The specter seemed to like possessing his friends, and he hasn't fallen victim to it yet, so it was one of the most unfortunate - and realistic - scenario his mind could think of.

It can't be. He can't be the one to kill him. He just can't -

"Hey!"

Ethan turned around in a split second to see a businesswoman standing behind him, grabbing his arm. His eyes widened, and he pulled back quickly. Her eyes held concern.

"Y-Yes?" Ethan stammered.

She pointed to the red light in front of him, and he followed her finger - cars sped past the road he was just about to cross.

"You could've died, sir," she said, her grave voice making him want to throw up. "Please be a bit more careful. Get your head out of the clouds and what not."

Ethan gulped at the sudden thought of his body sprawled on the road covered in blood.

"Dying is the least of my worries right now," he replied.

His dark joke left the woman in a mixture of shock and concern, and when she opened her mouth to say another word, the light went green and the 'walk' signal flashed on the monitor. He smiled gratefully at the woman, extending his thanks, and hurried off, leaving the businesswoman and his thoughts behind him.

* * *

A few days later, Sarah and Rory were gathered in Ethan's house, sitting in front of a coffee table filled with scribbled-out notes and maps. Ethan came from the kitchen and handed some coffee to the two, and Rory took it while Sarah ignored it, huffing in frustration.

"So that was another flop," she grumbled, throwing the paper in her hand onto the table. "We've thought of three possibilities of where Audrey and the specter may be, but nothing."

"Take your coffee Sarah," - Ethan nearly shoved it in her hand - "and relax. Please. You shouldn't be getting so upset of something you can't control."

"We have the power to control it, Ethan," Sarah replied, her words nearly a plead. "It's been months since Benny was in the hospital, and Audrey is still out there killing people. No one can enter or leave Whitechapel now, Ethan - it's a warzone on the map. A place of multiple losses of human life. Eventually, there'll be no one left, and -"

"Sarah, for God's sake, don't think that," Rory moaned, rubbing his temple. "We'll figure something out, let's not complain."

Sarah said nothing. Ethan sat beside her and looked at the crumpled papers on the table in front of him.

"I wish Benny was here," Rory said to break the silence. "He'd probably know whatever there is to know about an ongoing murder case and where to find it. He'd probably have answers because he was trained to do things like this. He probably -"

"Rory," Sarah warned, "now you're talking bullshit. If you keep going on about that, someone might -"

"It's fine," Ethan said, knowing who she was talking about. "It's fine, really."

Sarah held her stare with Ethan for a split second, and looked down at their notes again wordlessly.

"Erica" Ethan finally asked, the un-asked question being released.

Rory shrugged and said, "Dunno. Probably grieving her boyfriend or something."

Sarah nudged Rory sharply, cutting his snicker off. Ethan rolled his eyes, trying not to let the sentence bother her.

"Well, you told her we were here, right?" Ethan questioned. "I don't want her walking by herself all alone -"

Suddenly, the sound of the door banging cut Ethan off. The three jump, and turn around.

"Let me in! Hurry!"

Rory sighed, "Speaking of Erica…"

He zoomed to the door and invited Erica in. She rushes into the house and looked at everyone with her eyes wild in urgency.

"What's up?" Sarah asked, standing up. Ethan did the same.

Erica shook her head in somewhat of a disbelief expression.

"Benny," she breathed out. "They released him this morning."

Ethan's eyes widened. "What?"

"But that's impossible!" Rory exclaimed at the same time. "The hospital would've called us if he woke up, let alone if they just let him walk out of there."

"I know," Erica said, catching her breath and adding, "so that's why we're going to Benny's house to see what's going on."

* * *

"This is crazy," Ethan said on the way there, being wary of the new cameras the town council placed around the neighborhood. "We shouldn't be out at this time. The town's monitoring activity at this time, and if they see us, they'll -"

"Say nothing," Erica interrupted, almost annoyed. "We did nothing but solve this damn thing."

Rory nodded his head quickly. "And if they don't, Erica can just go all mind-crazy on them and use her brainwashing powers!"

Erica groaned. "For the last time, Rory, I can't do that yet. God, grow up a bit."

Rory stuck out his tongue, and Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Stop bickering you two; you're not five - or sixteen - anymore," Sarah said, annoyed. "Besides, we need to keep quiet - someone might here us. This is illegal after all."

"No offense, Sarah, but we haven't been the best at 'following the rules'," Erica retorted.

They reach Benny's house and knock at his door.

"Benny?" Rory called out against the wooden frame. " _Beeeeeennnyyy -_ "

"For crying out loud, let me do it," Erica huffed, pushing the blond out of the way and smashing her fist into the door. She pushed her hand through the new-formed hole and unlocked it from the inside.

"Benny's going to be pissed," Rory commented. Erica flashed her fangs.

"He won't be," she replied, "because if I'm right, he'll probably be at our knees, thanking us that we saved him. Again."

"Right about what…?" Ethan asked, raising his eyebrow as they walked into the house.

Erica opened her mouth to reply when they stopped at the living room, their eyes widening in fear at the sudden force of wind.

Benny stood in the middle of the room, wind surrounding him Bruises and bloody wounds scattered his body, and crimson blood poured out of the cuts and welts on his arms and face like a waterfall. His eyes were so black that they almost looked like pits with an indescribable fire - a rage - inside of them. His chest was still bare, but there was no longer any bandage - all that was left was the deep cut that was made when Audrey stabbed him.

He tilted his head with a big crack, as if it were to fall off any second because of the long wound wrapping around his neck, which was pouring endlessly - thick, dark red liquid mixed with a black, dusty substance. He smiled a yellow, rotten grin.

 _ **"hELlO aGaiN."**_

"That," Erica whispered, stuck in fear, "is what I was unfortunately right about."

Benny - or whatever it was - raised his left hand and examined the small, but deep, red x's covering his palm.

 _ **"yeS. daRkNesS, hIs - MY - oLd fRIeNd."**_

"Not again," Rory groaned. Erica held back every desire to snap and tell him to be quiet, while Ethan's eyes scanned the room for anything significant. Anything that might help -

"Audrey," Ethan whispered as soon as he saw it. Sarah looked at him, scooting a bit closer to his side.

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused. "What about Audrey?"

Ethan pointed to behind Benny's blood-soaked body and everyone saw what he was looking at fearfully. Ethan gulped.

"S-She's dead," Rory murmured, " _again_."

Audrey's rotting body was slumped in the corner of the room. Her eyes were no longer there; instead, they were replaced by black pits where they would be stretched upwards to reveal rotting black and red blood, as if a force ripped them violently out of their sockets, damaging all the tissue that once kept the eyes together.

 ** _"bLiNd."_**

Their eyes went to Audrey's eye-less body.

 _ **"ShE waS bLinD oF tHe daNgErS oF tRuStIng mE aGAiN"**_

"She must've made some sort of deal with it," Erica muttered. "Audrey was a serial killer with an axe possessed by the specter, but when she died, that black entity we saw must've been the specter possessing Audrey once more for one final chance."

"She made a deal with it wherever they ended up, I guess," Rory concluded. "That is some shady business going on in hell or wherever we sent it."

Sarah fought the urge to roll her eyes. Ethan stared into Benny's dark eyes.

"So you tricked her," Ethan said accusingly. Benny's smirked, his yellow teeth nearly making Ethan gag.

 **"sOmE pEopLE aRe jUsT toO dESperAte."**

Suddenly, Benny opened his mouth, and a high-pitched, demonic scream escaped from his throat. Black shadows flew out and surrounded the gang, and they broke through it as quick as they could.

"Spread out and try to land a hit on Benny!" Ethan yelled amongst the roar of the wind and shadows.

"I'm not hurting him!" Erica yelled, dodging a punch Benny threw her way. She managed to kick Benny's right leg, and he collapsed. Erica managed to somewhat break his leg.

He growled, popping it back into place with an unsettling crack, and narrowed his eyes towards the blonde vampire.

 ** _"yOu'RE gOinG tO bE sOrRy."_**

While the three vampires battled against Benny - desperately trying to avoid being hit while not hurting him in return - Ethan searched the room for anything he could use.

'The axe!' his mind immediately thought.

He slid across the floor, dodging shadows and thrown objects, and grabbed the axe in his hand. Ethan got on his feet and stared at the specter in the eye.

"Let him go," Ethan commanded darkly.

Benny laughed and replied, ** _"IF I GO DOWN, SO DOES HE."_**

Ethan held onto the handle of the axe tightly.

 _"Funny how you scream, as you'll be the one to kill him."_

Ethan's hand trembled.

 _"If anything happens when it's my life against yours," Benny said, "take mine."_

He stepped towards Benny and took a deep breath.

"Fine."

* * *

Some would say that time would slow down when you're about to do something life-changing, or if something dramatic and intense was happening.

For Ethan, however, he felt time go faster. Everything sped around him, but he saw the glimpse of humanity in his friend's soulless eyes before he pushed his arm forward.

Faster it went, and time eventually stopped when -

Erica screamed, and Ethan plunged the axe in Benny's bare chest, opposite of the diagonal cut the specter made. Out of the newly formed 'X' on Benny's chest came a black mist, and Benny released a blood-curling scream, dropping on his knees and onto the ground.

Ethan staggered backwards when he pulled the axe out of Benny's flesh, watching the black entity fly out out of the wound. Wind surrounded him, and he glared at his friends.

"Get a bottle and fill it with some blood and hair from Benny!" Ethan yelled, ripping a bit of hair from Benny. Sarah sped and grabbed it, along with grabbing the axe in Ethan's hand and snapping a bit of the blade off with her super-strength. A small blade of silver was ripped off, dried blood covering it, and she raced to the kitchen. Ethan looked at Erica.

"The pentagram, Erica! Hurry! We need to open the portal!" he yelled over the wind. Erica nodded and sped to the kitchen, coming back with candles and salt. She hastily arranged the portal around Audrey's body, and, on her knees, looked up at Rory.

"Tell him I'm ready!" she screamed. Rory frowned.

"What?!" he yelled, the wind making everything sound inaudible. Erica rolled her eyes.

"Ethan!" she shouted again, and Rory nodded, speeding to where Ethan was. He was trying to stop Benny from bleeding out, applying pressure on the wound. Although he was unconscious, his wounds - aside from the one Audrey and Ethan gave him on his chest in the shape of an X - surprisingly healed. Blood trickled from the wound, and Rory looked at Ethan in fear.

"She's ready!" Rory exclaimed. "Where's Sarah? Do you remember the spell? I know I did it last year, but I have no idea what it is!"

Ethan's mind blanked out - he forgot that he could say the spell. Memories of a year ago spilled back into his mind, and he remembered himself in the situation from before.

"Yeah, I do!" he exclaims, standing up and -

"Ethan!" Sarah shrieked from the entrance of the room, the old witch bottle from Benny's bedroom in her hand. "Watch out! The specter - it's com -"

Sarah's scream was the last thing Ethan heard before he felt a rush of darkness behind his back. He quickly spun around, and was face to face with the specter.

 _ **"yOU ShOulDn'T haVE dOnE tHAt. YoU'Ll pAy - aLl oF yOu."**_

Without warning, the black wind collided with Ethan's chest, pushing him onto his back with a yelp. The entity separated into four strings of mist and bound his wrists and ankles onto the ground.

"Guys!" he screamed, struggling to escape his bindings. "I can't say the spell! I-I'm stuck!"

Erica's voice was heard slightly through the wind. "I already lit the last candle, Ethan! Audrey's body has already been dropped into the portal! You have ten seconds - hurry and say the damn spell!"

Ethan was about to open his mouth when a piece of the specter from his left wrist broke off and wrapped around his mouth like tape. He felt blood on his tongue, and his screams were muffled by the sudden gag.

"Mmph!" he screamed against the specter's dust, trying to tell them that he couldn't speak.

Pitched laughter echoed throughout the house. Sarah was standing above him, her hand extended with the witch bottle, and her eyes were wide with fear. Ethan's eyes matched her, and he saw her mouth -

 _'Wait, Ethan! I-I love you, this can't be it -'_

He wanted to say it back. He wanted to say "I love you" back. He tried his best to escape, but to no avail, he was stuck.

 _10\. 9. 8._

That was it. Benny was down, Ethan was down, and the vampires were forced to do nothing but stare.

 _7\. 6._

This was it for them. The specter will finally kill them off - if not, something will come out of the hell-portal after thirteen seconds and do it for the evil demon.

This was it for Whitechapel. More will escape from the depths of hell, and Whitechapel will be wiped off the map.

Now seconds went slower with every morbid thought.

 _5._

This was it.

 _4._

This was -

 _3._

 _"This isn't the end."_

Ethan managed to sneak a glance and saw Benny, his eyes bright green and his bruised hand rose weakly at the spell bottle.

"Sicantos d-delstorm, rickantos k-kaara!" Benny managed to scream, and a high-pitched shriek echoed through the house.

Ethan felt the bindings around his wrists and ankles loosen, and he scrambled to his feet where he saw the specter being lured into the glowing witch bottle.

 _ **"THIS WILL NEVER END! YOU WILL NEVER ESCAPE FROM THE HAUNT!**_ **AND _WHITECHAPEL_ WILL EXPERIENCE ITS _TERROR_ BECAUSE OF YOU! ALL OF YOU!** _ **"**_

Ethan's eyes adjusted to the bright lights in his vision. Was this is? Was this the end?

 **"I WILL COME BACK AS VICTORIOUS ONCE MORE, AND YOU WILL WITNESS THE _REIGN OF THE UNDEAD!"_**

"Goodbye, specter," Sarah growled, her fangs popping out and her eyes flashing yellow. "See you never, asshole."

And with two seconds to spare, she chucked the bottle into the portal, and Erica kicked a candle over, extinguishing the fire with her hand by instinct, and the whole room went quiet.

"Is it over?" Rory murmured in the dark.

Ethan looked over at Benny's seemingly lifeless body, his eyes closed and his right hand flopped forward in front of him.

"It's never over," Ethan replied. "Not yet."

* * *

 **Three Years Later**

"It's over."

Everyone sat around Benny's new TV, surrounded by his tidy living room. The movie credits rolled on the screen, and Rory and Stace Goodmen, his fiancé of two years now, stood up.

"Well, that was great!" he said happily, stretching his arms up and wrapping them around Stace, which was met with a slight giggle.

"We'd love to watch another movie, but Rory and I have to go home and pick up Jace from the daycare - it's already 7, and our little Superman wants to go trick-or-treating."

"Wow, parenthood sucks," Ethan joked, wrapping his hands around Sarah's. "But unfortunately, our reason to leave isn't parenthood. Not yet. We need to catch our flight back."

Sarah smiled, remembering the pile of adoption papers sitting on their coffee table back in Toronto. Ethan had branched out his business to the capital city of Ontario, along with many other places across Ontario, so he was able to manage his business from his new home in Toronto with Sarah. They were marking their third year anniversary in December, when, unknown to Sarah, Ethan was to propose in the local park.

"Do you want us to stay and clean up?" Sarah asked sweetly, wrapping her arm around Ethan's waist. Benny chuckled, shaking his head.

"No worries," Benny said, his hands up calmly. "We need to do some deep-cleaning anyway. Gotta make some room so the moving-people won't judge us."

Everyone laughed, exchanging hugs.

"Thanksgiving?" Ethan asked when he went to Benny, hope in his eyes. Benny grinned.

"Of course," he replied with a small smile.

"Good." Ethan gave Benny a hug. Benny winced at the small pain on his chest from the large X wound that, though healed from his hospital three years ago, was not quite gone.

He ignored it.

"I'll seeya soon, B," Ethan promised. "Stay classy."

"Always will," Benny said, grinning, and letting go.

Everyone left quietly, and Erica mentioned she was going to start cleaning the dishes in the kitchen. Benny decided to move some furniture around to make room for Erica's things.

One more week, and they would be listening to The Beatles on Erica's record player after all.

When he moved the couch to grab a popcorn kernel from underneath, his eyes widened.

An imprint of a black circle where the portal to hell once was - he clearly remembered the night as if it was yesterday - was left around a small burnt piece of carpet. A few strands of auburn-coloured hair surrounded a chip of a silver blade.

He stared at it as if it was a sign. An omen of some sort that it was back. He -

"Benny?" Erica's voice from the kitchen made him jump. "Are you coming with the cups?"

After a heartbeat, Benny stood up and grabbed a hand-vacuum. He returned to the spot and sucked up the hair and the chip of silver.

"Coming!" he sing-songed happily, and moved a box over the black circle. The box read "Erica's Things" on it.

 _'Of course not,'_ he thought, nearly laughing aloud at the thought of mocking his therapist.

 _'It's over, and I'm moving on.'_

* * *

 **A/N** **\- And that is my Halloween fic of 2016, and the end of the Halloween trilogy! I hope it was satisfying :)**

 **As Ethan said, stay classy, friends, and have a great Halloween! Thank you all for reviewing (just wanted to say since there was no Author's Note in the beginning) - you know how much I love you guys!**

 **Happy Halloween! I will see y'all next time :)**

 _ **Keep On Keeping On**_


End file.
